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The Scholar

Artist:

C. Hoff [Carl Heinrich Hoff]

Date:

Before 1890

Medium:

oil on canvas - framed

Location:

Withers Brown Special Collections Art Closet

Image:

Provenance:

Unknown. Plaque says: "Presented in memory of Mr. & Mrs. Algernon Sydney Sullivan by their son George Hammond Sullivan.1949." George Hammond Sullivan was born in New York, but he and his mother were "deeply interested in promoting education in the South," giving money to a number of southern universities and setting up the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Foundation, which provided scholarships to the South ["George Sullivan, Attorney, Is Dead," New York Times, November 16, 1956, p. 26]. George Sullivan gave a number of artworks to the University of Virginia including two works to the Bayly Art Museum: a portrait of Daniel Webster ["Portrait of Daniel Webster Given to University Museum," Washington Post, August 5, 1935, p. 13] and the sculpture "The Kiss" by Auguste Rodin. See RG 313-05, Box 7, Folders 7 and 8 for information on the 1996 restoration of this painting. The restorers noted a signature in the lower right corner in red paint: "C. Hoff. fc./Munchen," which identifies this as the work of Carl Heinrich Hoff (1833-1890), a German painter. Another painting by Hoff, of a young girl, auctioned by John Moran Auctioneers, bore the signature "72 C. Hoff fec. Munchen." [see auction archive at www.johnmoran.com]